3513 
45 E3 
19 
py 1 



j£cboe6 
of tbe (great 

Blanche fflnftle (Bile 



ECHOES 
OF THE GREAT 



By 



BLANCHE FINKLE GILE 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copy right, 1919, by Blanche P. Qile 



AU Rights Reserved 






MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



The Gorham Press, Boston, H. S. A. 



©CI.A5252 7? 



APR 28 1919 



PROLOGUE 

I like a verse, I like a rhyme, 
I love sweet singers of all time; 
And harmonies, unique, sublime, 
Send quivers up and down my spine; 
And lofty thoughts, ideals divine, 
Inspire this struggling soul of mine; 
Oh, would that Immortality 
Might spare, a meager crown for me! 

Alas, my Pegasus is lame! 

I humbly echo others fame 

And pray your grace. Mayhap my part 

Will warm your love for greater art. 



CONTENTS Page 

"Going West" 9 

Little Boy Blue lo 

"Yankee Doodle'* ii 

Little Harry Garfield I2 

Nothin' to Say 14 

The Service Star of Humanity 15 

Arbutus 16 

Humpty Dumpty 17 

Times Have Changed 18 

War's Lessons 19 

To My Rose in Old Vermont 20 

The Fool 21 

Spring Owed 23 

The Profiteer 24 

A Dissertation 25 

Wilhelm the Kaiser, and the Angel 26 

April Fool 27 

My Masterpiece 28 



ECHOES OF THE GREAT 



"GOING WEST" 

Turmoil and stricken truth, 

And one clear call for me! 
And may there be no mourning if my youth 

Is lost that Right shall be. 

For tho' the smoke and mist of cannon roll 

May cloud my mortal eyes, 
I catch the Vision of the gleaming goal 

That "somewhere" lies. 

Tumult and frantic fight, 

And after that the dark! 
And may there be no faltering of the Light 

When bullet finds its mark. 

And if my star shall lead from Time and Place 

To that eternal quest, 
I hope to see my captain face to face 

When I "go West". 



Echoes of the Great 



LITTLE BOY BLUE 

My Little Boy Blue went away in a ship 

So sturdy and staunch and smart; 
I told him good bye with a smile on my lip 

That covered an aching heart. 

Time was when as all lovers do, 

We'd planned for a snug little nest; 

But that was before my little Boy Blue 
And his ship sailed out of the West. 

"Now wait, dear heart, 'till I come," said he, 

"And don't you worry or sigh; 
For I'll be back from over the sea 

In the golden bye and bye." 

i 
Alas, the great grey water wolf 

Came out of his lair in the deep 
And sprang at the throat of the gallant boat ! 

And a woman can only weep. 

My Little Boy Blue has gone to his rest 
And his tomb is the moaning main; 

For the ship that so proudly sailed out of the West 
Will never make harbor again! 

I wonder and wait, and the years look long, 
And I hope, in my pain, they'll be few ; 

I wonder, and hark for the angel's song 
That called to my little Boy Blue. 

lO 



Echoes of the Great 



"YANKEE DOODLE" 

"What is that rumblin' roar I hear?" said Hinden- 

burg the Red. 
"It*s Yankee foemen drawing near," the Avenging 

Angel said. 
"Why shake my front ranks in their place?" said 

Hindenburg the Red. 
"They're dreading what they've got to face," the 

Avenging Angel said. 
For they're playing Yankee Doodle an' they're 

straight like Yankee pine, 
An' there's grim determination in every khaki line. 
An' they've started off as winners, an' they're 

headed for the Rhine, 
For the Freedom of the Nations is a-bornin'. 

"What casts that shadow o'er the Hun?" said Hin- 
denburg the Red. 

"A wing-ed host against the sun," the Avenging 
Angel said. 

"What is that throb across the deep?" said Hin- 
denburg the Red. 

"The building of a mighty fleet," the Avenging 
Angel said. 

For they're coming thro' the Heavens and they're 
coming o'er the strand, 

An' they're going to see the finish of your murder- 
in' thievin' band. 

For they know they fight for Righteousness as well 
as Native Land, 

An' the Freedom of the Nations that's a-bornin'. 

II 



Echoes of the Great 



LITTLE HARRY GARFIELD 

Little Harry Garfield's come to our house to stay, 
To make us shut the dampers up, an* brush the 

soot away, 
An* clean the ashes off the grate, 'cause ashes kill 

the heat, 
An' sort 'em out, an' pick 'em out, and what aren't 

burned to keep. 
An' all the family gather, when the supper things 

is done. 
An' feed em' to the kitchen fire, to beat the fiendish 

Hun, 
An' prattle of the Shortage, the papers tell about, 
An' the Jack Frost 'at gits you 
When the Coal 

Gives 

Out. 

An' little Harry Garfield says when the sky is blue, 
'En the sun's a-sending heat, F. O. B. to you, 
That when the shadows deepen an' the day is gray, 
It's time to draw the curtains to keep the cold away. 
You'd better shut off all the rooms, 'cept where 

people is. 
An' folks 'ill know, 'at sees you, you're tendin' right 

to biz. 
An' put in smaller 'lectric bulbs, or Mazdas, all 

about, 
'Er Jack Frost 'ill git you 
If the Coal 

Gives 

Out. 
12 



Echoes of the Great 



Wunst there wuz a woman, a careless, saucy dame, 
Who wouldn't sift her ashes, or mend a window 

frame. 
An' would heat up all the water, an' let it run away, 
An' jeer at them who tried to save a shovel-full 

aday. 
An' when her bin was empty, they wouldn't heed 

her call. 
An' when they went to find her, she wuzn't there 

at all. 
An' all they ever found wuz, some chunks of ice 

about, 
'Cause Jack Frost had got her 
When her Coal 

Gave 

Out. 
An* one time a selfish man wuz full of greed and 

sin, 
An* didn't care for no one but filled chock full 

his bin. 
When told of cold and suffrin' the poor folks had 

to bear. 
He mocked 'em and shocked 'em 
An' said he didn't care. 

An' just as he was telling, as 'ow he'd ordered more, 
He saw two great big black men go in his cellar 

door. 
An' they carried off his hoardings, 
'Fore he know'd what he's about, 
An' Jack Frost 'ill git him 
When his Coal 

Gives 

Out. 

n 



Echoes of the Great 



NDTHIN' TO SAY 

Nothin* to say, my laddie! 

Nothin' at all to say! 

Boys that has pluck, IVe noticed, ginerly has their 
way ! 

Yer grand dad did, afore you, Vay back in sixty- 
one — 

I reckon it's bred right in you to want a whack at 
the Hun! 

You look lots like yer grand dad : 

Same glint about the eyes, 

As if you'd liketo tackle a man' bout twice yer size: 

Like him, too, about fightin' — ^he loved the thick 

of the fray: 
And now yer off to the trenches! 
But I hain't got nothing to say! 

Of course, you can't be drafted, 

Yer sceercely past eighteen; 

But yc'U make as fine a soldier as any man I've seen. 

I'll be most mighty lonesome, but lad if you can't 

stay, 
Why go, and God go with you! 
I've nothin' at all to say I 



H 



Echoes of the Great 



THE SERVICE STAR OF HUMANITY 

Thou blessed star of Bethlehem, 

Oh, guide us thro' the night; 
The Christ is born in hearts of men 

And lives to guard the Right! 

Thou Star of Hope. Again the earth 

Hangs breathless on thy fate: 
Thy olden tale of Jesus* birth 

Is strength to us who wait. 

For tho* from out our chosen ways 

Thy gleam may call us far, 
Well learn anew in trying days 

The Message of the Star. 

Oh, we will follow where you lead 

And make our altar there, 
We'll leave behind our selfish need 

To bring a smile and prayer. 

"Unto the End," we take the vow: 

Nor shun our share of loss 
If at the end we find that Thou 

Hath led us to the Cross! 



IS 



Echoes of the Great 



ARBUTUS 

Pink as a virgin's blush is ; 

White as a baby's brow; 
Starry as dawn's first flush is; 

Sweet as a lover's vow. 

Sleeping with Life's spark hidden; 

Stirring in Spring's soft bliss; 
Thus does the heart of a maiden 

Startle at Love's first kiss. 

Bearing a promise of rapture; 

Consummation to come; 
Sunshine and children's laughter; 

Nature's hustle and hum. 

Oh, wonderful little flower, 
Thy chalice of delicate hue 

Holds all the mysterious power 
That quickens old earth anew. 



i6 



Echoes of the Great 



HUMPTY DUMPTY 

He lightly threw my heart away, 

A shattered crimson toy it lay ; 

And the seething love with which it was filled 

On the ground around was hopelessly spilled ; 

For all the King's horses and all the King's men 

Can't put broken hearts back together again. 



J7 



Echoes of the Great 



TIMES HAVE CHANGED 

Last year I went to bed at night 
By cheerful twenty-candle light; 
This summer quite the other way 
I must retire by light of day. 

I must retire that I may rise 
Before the sun ascends the skies; 
And by this comprehensive plan 
I amplify my little span. 

I save the fuel for future power 
To luminate a darker hour; 
Else winter's glim may be perchance 
The light shed by my countenance ! 



x8 



Echoes of the Great 



WAR^S LESSONS 

There! little girl; don't cry! 

They have taken your boy, I know; 

Tho' your heart is blue, 

Be a soldier, too, 
For the way is hard to go; 
But battle clouds will soon pass by. 
There! little girl; don't cry! 

There! little girl; don't cry! 

They have brought you sad news, I know; 

For your lover died 

With a hero's pride. 
And the way seems hard to go; 
But pain will cease in the bye and bye. 
There! little girl; don't cry! 

There! little girl; don't cry! 

They have broken your heart, I know; 

And your dreams of joy 

Have gone with your boy 
And are things of the long ago: 
But heaven holds all for which you sigh. 
There! little girl; don't i:ry! 



19 



Echoes of the Great 



TO MY ROSE IN OLD VERMONT 

Oh, sad am I across the sea 

A-longing for my Rosalie; 

Though other Jacks love other Jills 

In greater or in less degree, 

There is no other girl for me 

But you my darling Rosalie! 

I know you'll keep my memory 
As verdant as a leaving tree 
By our dear native rills; 
And I will be your devotee 
Through time and all eternity, 
My neatest, sweetest Rosalie! 

And when we've won the victory 
The wings of love will carry me 
To those Green Mountain hills; 
They say that men will all be free ; 
But I shall be a slave to thee. 
My Sovereign Queen, my Rosalie 1 



2C 



Echoes of the Great 



THE FOOL 

A Fool there was and her prayer she gave 

(Even as you and I) ! 
To the form of a God and the soul of a slave 
(We called him the man with the heart of a knave), 
But the fool called him her gallant brave 

(Even as you and I)! 

And the fool poured forth with lavish hand 

( Even as you and I ) ! 
Spirit and flesh at his demand 
And pled for love as a poor fool can 
(And that wasn't at all what the gallant planned), 
But a fool of course cannot understand 

(Even as you and I) ! 

And the fool was stripped and cast aside 

(Even as you and I) ! 
A derelict at the will of the tide — 
(But it isn't on record the gallant sighed), 
And the shell of her lived but the soul of her died — 

(Even as you and I) ! 

Oh the ache of a heart and the break of a heart 
And the wreck of a future planned, 
For the sake of the man who would not share 
(And then she knew that he did not care) 
And never could understand. 



21 



Echoes of the Great 



And the name of it all and the blame of it all 
And the shame of the Scarlet brand, 
Belonged to the woman who did not know 
(And because she loved she could not know) 
The faithless heart of the man. 

But it wasn't the pain, the stain, or the shame 
That conquered the spirit brave. 
'Twas coming to know, as she came to know 
(And seeing at last she must come to know) 
That her Knight was only a Knave. 



22 



Echoes of the Great 



SPRING OWED 

In the Spring the shops' show-windows lure with 
garments fresh and new; 

In the Spring the Easter Bonnets emulate the rain- 
bow's hue; 

In the Spring all Femininity blossoms like the crim- 
son rose; 

In the Spring a woman's fancy turns to thoughts 
of classy clothes. 



n 



Echoes of the Great 



THE PROFITEER 
(forty years hence) 

A little girl climbed on her granddaddy's knee 
And pleaded, **Oh, tell a true story to me." 
She wheedled and teased as a little girl can 
To hear him live over the war days again. 

So he told her of gallant and glorious fight; 

Of the Nation's response to the call of the right; 

Of brave mothers and sisters and sweethearts and 

wives ; 
Of the flower of young manhood who poured out 

their lives 
That the world might be safe when the conflict was 

done, 
And men keep the freedom their fathers had won. 

} 
Then she wistfully queried, *'And what did you do, 
I think that the man who was bravest was you?" 
The grandfather gazed 'round the elegant room. 
Whose luxury seemed like a symbol of doom. 
He regretted the past for he felt he was old 
And the fire of desire was expiring and cold. 

He thought of his end in a humpety hole. 
Too small for his body, but large for his soul. 
And he made no reply as he stifled a sigh. 
But he lowered his head at the look in her eye. 
For he knew in his heart that the arrow had hit. 
He had done the poor people instead of his bit! 

24 



Echoes of the Great 



A DISSERTATION 

The poets sing of love, sweet love, with verse they 
are prolific, 

But I would lift my lilt to love in terms most scien- 
tific. 

"That true, true love will never die^*, this error 
they are teaching, 

"And absence fonder makes the heart" the tenet 
they are preaching; 

But I argue controversely, that in almost every 
instance, 

"Love varies, quite inversely, as the cubic of the 
distance.'* 

But before I hasten to a further exposition 

ril state my views concisely in a simple definition 

Love is a trick, camouflage if you please, 
A snare of Dame Nature's (a trap set with cheese) 
That, thinly dissembled with moonshine and vapors 
Enveigles young folks into all sorts of capers. 
Thus benighted individuals who lack sophistication 
Are guided to the altar for the sake of propagation 

The State of Matrimony is a most "specific cure,' 
But a "counter irritation" is very near as sure. 
On this very complex topic, to get a clear relation, 
ril epitomize my spasm in a recapitulation; 
Thus falling deep in love is an "awfully simple" 

jump, 
But falling out again is a "simply awful" bump. 

25 



Echoes of the Great 



WILHELM THE KAISER, AND THE 
ANGEL 

Wilhelm the Kaiser (may his tribe die out) ! 

Awoke one night in a great state of doubt, 

(For things were not running as smooth as might 

be 
In the vaunted Concern of '^Himself and Al- 
mighty") ! 
And saw within the twilight in his room, 
Seeming to him like a forecast of doom, 
An angel, writing in the Book of Death. 
Exceeding nerve gave Kaiser Wilhelm breath, 
And to the presence in the room he said, 
'What writest thou?'* — The vision raised its head. 
And with a look full of grief and discord. 
Answered, "The names of those who deny the 

Lord." 
"And is mine one?" said Wilhelm. "Nay, not 

yet," 
Replied the angel. Wilhelm ceased to fret, 
And proudly spoke, "Write me, I pray theie, then, 
As one who denies the brotherhood of men." 
The Angel wrote and vanished. The next night 
It came again with a glaring crimson light. 
And show'd the names whom hate of God had 

cursed 
And lo ! the name of Wilhelm was the first. 



26 



Echoes of the Great 



APRIL FOOL 

Von Hindenburg, he said he'd dine 
And drink his fill of Paris wine 
In state on All FooFs day. 
He must have misconstrued the sign 
Some fifty miles away. 

Von Hindenburg, he made his brag 
He'd carry off the victor's swag 
And make the Allies pay. 
And yet he has begun to flag 
At fifty miles away. 

Now April Fool is in the past 
So he's the biggest fool at last 
He lost his leading play. 
While Yankee boys are coming fast 
He's fifty miles away. 

And when the Powers in council wait 
Von Hindenburg will fail his date. 
And on that blissful day 
They'll pass him up an empty plate 
Some hundred miles away. 

Epilogue 

Instead of Paris wine, I ween 
He'll drink his fill of Paris green! 



Zf 



Echoes of the Great 



MY MASTERPIECE 

While in a wondrous merry mood, 

I wrote a little skit; 
I thought it was exceeding good 

And sure to make a hit, 
Said I, "ril try it on the dog, 

Before I publish it." 

I read it to the coal man, 

To test the matter out 
According to my little plan. 

He burst into a shout ; 
He whooped and roared and whooped again, 

And started on the run, 
And took in his departing van 

My precious half a ton. 

I read it to the grocer's boy: 

At first he grew a grin; 
The second line, he swelled with joy: 

The third, he lost his chin; 
The fourth, his vest began to crack. 

He turned a purple hue. 
And tumbled in a fit. Alack, 

My sugar tumbled, too! 



28 



Echoes of the Great 



I read it to my better half, 

A sober man is he; 
It would be queer, if he should laugh, 

And queer it seemed to be. 
He broke into a lusty roar 

And doubled up in glee, 
And dropped upon the hardwood floor 

The baby on his knee! 
Thus every time, my foolish rhyme 

Brought dire calamity. 



So I am forced by bitter need 
To hide my brightest light; 

Since then, I never dare to read, 
The funny things I write. 



29 



LIBRARY OF CONGREbb 




012 404 887 4 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



